Stars
by Satori
Summary: Jade has always loved the way the stars twinkle far above her head. She wishes she was one of them. But Jade is not a star. She is a human girl with too many bruises.


Disclaimer: yes, the characters besides Jade and her family don't belong to me. Unfortunately. You know the drill, they belong to J.K. Rowling *bows low* Haha. I wish they were mine. Oh yeah, the name Nymeria was borrowed from A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. And so was the last name Stark. That's all.  
  
Author's Note: Another HP story from your beloved me! *No one claps* . Er anyways. I hope you like it, read and review and all that good stuff.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Jade lay on her back, staring upward. The lawn stretched all around her and dampened her robes, but she didn't care. Above her, the stars stretched like the grass, but further, oh so much further. Jade preferred the stars. If you looked at them long enough, it was almost like you were lifted off the ground and cast among them. If you saw nothing but the stars, you became one of them, winking peacefully down at the tumultuous earth. No one beat the stars. No one called them names or did mean things to them.  
  
But Jade was not a star.  
  
She was a human girl with bruises and scabs and half-healed welts. Too many. So many, she couldn't count them all. Like the stars. And she remembered how she got each and every one. But she didn't like to think about her scars. The twinkling lights above her head were so much happier to think about. She had named each star after something in her life she loved. She often repeated herself.  
  
There was one for Nymeria, her familiar. Long and sleek, Jade's black dire wolf was the most valuable thing she considered her own. Well, not really hers. Nymeria didn't belong to anyone. She just came when Jade called and licked her face when she cried late at night. But Nymeria was her own wolf, and Jade loved her for her independence.  
  
There was another star for her books. Huge, dusty tomes filled with knowledge of the physical world and the mysterious things that her parents did when they left her all alone in the manor. They called it magic. She called it evil, because it smelled so cruel, and Nymeria hated it. She would growl and bare her teeth every time Jade's parents came home, and Jade hid in her bed as they passed her bedroom. It was so vile, Jade's human nose could smell it. Jade used the books to learn about her parents' secrets, and mastered them herself, trying hard not to sense the evil behind the spells. Other books contained safe, good spells. There were fewer of those in the house, but Jade's mother prided herself on having the largest library of wizarding in the world, so of course she had some books of Light spells.  
  
And there was one last star for Scotland. Particularly one school in Scotland. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The name made Jade smile and she would have given anything (except Nymeria of course) to go there. Her parents told her she was going to Durmstrang when she was old enough (she was barely six when she discovered Hogwarts in one of her books, Hogwarts A History). But the more Jade learned about Hogwarts, the more she knew she had to go there.  
  
Now Jade was ten, and her birthday was coming soon. She was expecting the Durmstrang letter any day with a growing dread, and so were her parents, but with a little more excitement.  
  
~*~*~  
  
The day the letter from Durmstrang came, another letter arrived in green ink. Jade could barely conceal her excitement as she raced to her father's study. Before she entered, Jade composed herself—the biggest mistake she could make would be to appear before her father and look anything but cool and aloof—then knocked on the door and entered when commanded.  
  
Jade approached her father's desk with her head bowed, then sank to one knee in front of him and waited for him to notice her. One letter was clutched in each sweaty hand as listened to his quill scratching away on the parchment.  
  
Finally, he looked over at her and told her to stand. She did so.  
  
"Well, daughter? What is it?" he asked impatiently.  
  
"The letters have arrived Father."  
  
"Letters? I thought only one was coming."  
  
Jade paused. "Yes, Father. So did I. But there are two." she placed them before him carefully and took a step back, waiting for him to read them.  
  
He picked up the letter from Durmstrang first. The vellum was slightly wet from its journey cross-country, but looked pristine and elegant compared to the Hogwarts letter, which was more casually written. He read the invitation silently then set it aside to look at the list of things she would need for school.  
  
Jade stood in front of his desk, hands clasped tightly behind her back. She waited for him to read the other letter, but he put down the Durmstrang one and looked up at her coldly. "You want to go to Hogwarts." It was a statement, not a question, and she flinched at the way he spat out the name.  
  
"Yes Father."  
  
He smiled cruelly and picked up the second letter. "Indeed." With a rip that sounded distinctly like her heart breaking, he tore the letter in half and tossed it onto the flames in the fireplace.  
  
Jade's eyes widened, but she didn't say anything. She could feel the tears shimmering behind her eyes, but didn't cry. If she did, it would be so much worse for her. So, she just stood there dumbly as he told her that she would be going to Durmstrang.  
  
Perhaps it was her broken heart that drove her into the insane action. "But—"  
  
She barely got the one word out of her mouth before her father was towering over her, one hand clasped painfully around one of her skinny arms. "What did you say to me, daughter?" he demanded.  
  
She winced and looked down, hoping he would find her penitent enough and let her be. She could feel the new bruise starting under his hand already; she was cursed with horribly sensitive pale skin that gave everything away.  
  
But her father was not feeling forgiving—or as forgiving as he could get—and he shook her roughly, saying through gritted teeth, "What. Did. You. Say. To. Me?"  
  
She couldn't answer and he finally flung her away. Her head connected sharply with the edge of one of the armchairs and she clutched her head in pain. Jade could feel the blood trickling coolly down the back of her head as she watched her father fearfully. She couldn't get up; the fall had shaken her up too much. He approached her again, this time with his wand out.  
  
"You will regret your words, daughter." Jade knew what was coming even before he pointed his wand at her and said the horrible word, "Crucio." Her entire ten-year-old body exploded in pain as she screamed and writhed on the floor. She begged him for mercy and apologized, whimpering after her voice had gone hoarse.  
  
Finally, he relented and ended the curse. Without a backward glance, he stalked out of the room, leaving her broken on the floor.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Jade finally made it back to her chamber, stumbling and clutching at the wall. A house elf was waiting inside with a tub of hot water and a potion of Dreamless Sleep; this was not the first time. She knew the drill, and so did the elf, as he helped her undress and washed her with the hot water. She refused the Dreamless Sleep and the house elf left her after she thanked him.  
  
The bed was soft and warm and she wanted nothing more than to sink into oblivion, but Jade knew that it wouldn't happen. She always dreamt, even with potions. So, she stayed awake and tried to think what she could do. There would be no changing her parents' minds about this; they cared for their family name much more than they cared for her. It was horribly shameful for a daughter of such prestigious Death Eaters to attend a school lesser than Durmstrang, but Jade felt she had to got Hogwarts.  
  
She fell asleep in the end anyways, and awoke the next morning feeling a little sore but otherwise fine. The events of last night were about to enter her mind so she could cry or feel upset, but they were interrupted by a knock on her door.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Miss Stark, we have your breakfast."  
  
She wasn't hungry—she hardly ever was—but she was horribly thirsty. "Come in."  
  
The house elf came in, bearing a small breakfast (they were used to her eating habits) and a letter on a platter. "There was a letter in the mail for you, Miss Stark." The house elf informed her as she set the tray in Jade's lap.  
  
"Thank you." The house elf left and closed the door firmly behind her. Jade's heart started to beat faster as she glanced at the letter. It was written in green ink. Could it be another from Hogwarts? But how could they know the old one was torn up and burned? She decided she didn't care.  
  
Ignoring her breakfast, Jade opened the letter with trembling hands and read the acceptance notice inside, before turning the page to find a list of school supplies. She couldn't help grinning; maybe it would work out. She had the list already, now all she needed was an excuse to get to Diagon Alley and she could get her materials. She'd read that Hogwarts students were permitted to come to school as early as two months before school started if there were complications. Jade decided her parents were enough of a complication to warrant her coming early.  
  
She suddenly felt much better as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She had things to prepare. 


End file.
